E-drug: Cipla launches 3-in-1 AIDS pill (cont'd)
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I'm responding to the earlier E-drug message because some of the
patent issues raised in the news article are unclearly stated... and
you can't believe everything you read etc...
"Britain's GlaxoSmithKline holds the patent for lamivudine,
Germany's Boehringer Ingelheim the patent on nevirapine and US
drug giant Bristol-Myers Squibb the patent on stavudine."
NOTE: I assume the newswire means that these pharma companies
hold the respective patents in India. If they do not, then India can
do whatever it wants since patents have no extraterritorial reach- to
the extent that BMS can't go and sue an Indian company in India if
BMS hold no exclusive IP postion there.
"... Cipla is allowd by Indian patent law to make drugs that are
patented by other companies internationally as the law protects
only the processes by which drugs are made, and not the drugs
themselves. This means Indian companies can make drugs under
patent in the West, provided they use a process that is different
from the original."
NOTE: Again, to be clear, Indian companies can make drugs in India
that are under patent in the West and they can use the SAME
process in India as described in the "Western" patent, provided that
the patent is in the West and NOT in India.
It gets sticky, however, once the drug leaves Indian soil and enters
a country where there is IP protection for either the product itself or
the process for making the product. At that point, Indian companies
may (but not necessarily) run afoul of IP law. For instance, if a US
company has a patent on a process for making a drug, and a
company makes the drug offshore using the same process (in a
country lacking IP protection for the process or product), the
company may import the resulting product into the U.S., but it is
technically patent infringement, even though the US patent was
only on the process.
I should probably assume the e-drug readers know all this, but...
Warren Kaplan, Esq.
Boston University School of Public Health
Summer Program: International Health
e-mail: wak22@mediaone.net
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